Marking the 20th Anniversary of the Signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) on July 26th, President Obama signed an Executive Order addressing the employment by the Federal Government of people with disabilities. Individuals with disabilities currently represent just over 5 percent of the nearly 2.5 million people in the Federal workforce. President Obama made it clear that, “The Federal Government is committed to leading by example in hiring people with disabilities, with focused efforts to recruit, retain, and support these public servants.” The administration is also committed to “uphold strong and meaningful enforcement of the ADA to eliminate discrimination in employment, housing, public services, and community accommodations.” These very strong statements are a very serious promise toward the advancement of independence for the disability community.

The executive order focuses on several areas: recruitment, hiring, retention and accountability. There is also an increased awareness of accessibility issues and identifying and removing barriers to work. The recruitment piece currently focuses on developing agency-specific plans to promote employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. As well as creating recruitment and training programs for employment of individuals with disabilities and coordinating employment counseling to help match the career aspirations of individuals. The Office of Personnel Management will then assist all agencies in the implantation of their plans, therefore, expanding access to employment by hiring people with disabilities within the federal agencies. 

President Obama stated, “Across this country, millions of people with disabilities are working or want to work, and they should have access to the support and services they need to succeed.  That's why I've asked the responsible agencies to develop new plans and policies to help increase employment across America for people with disabilities." These strategies for increasing and retaining federal workers with disabilities in federal employment include but are not limited to training, the use of centralized funds to provide reasonable accommodations, increasing access to appropriate accessible technologies, and ensuring the accessibility of physical and virtual work spaces. Programmatically, this makes for all employers and does serve as a model to uphold the ADA principles. Each agency will have a senior official who is accountable for achieving the goals set and the White House will receive regular reports as well as post progress online. There will also be a focus on increased participation of individuals with disabilities in internships, fellowships and training and mentoring programs.

Approximately 54 million Americans are living with a disability, yet Americans with disabilities have an employment rate far lower than that of Americans without disabilities. In this economy, many people are hurting for jobs and health care services and the inclusion of people with disabilities is often not a priority with organizations. The Executive Order serves as a model to ensure that individuals with disabilities have access to good jobs and a renewed commitment to eliminating discrimination based on disability.

In addition to employment opportunities within the federal government, this administration also has made significant health care reforms for people with disabilities, such as the Affordable Care Act. In this legislation, unfair practices like discrimination based on health status or pre-existing conditions will be eliminated. Employment is only one factor in living independently for people with disabilities.  “The Affordable Care Act provides States with more tools and financial incentives, such as the Community First Choice Option, which will support individuals with disabilities living in the communities of their choosing.” These programs focus on inclusion of people with disabilities and are so important in the advancement of independent lifestyles and self sustainability of people with disabilities.

As Obama did, WID urges “all Americans to visit Disability.gov for comprehensive disability-related information and resources.”